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Hello all, Here's the deal, I am buying 2 ipods, one for me and one for the wife. I can get either 2 3rd gen 15gbs or 2 4th gen 20gb, or one of each. Now my questions. I am on a g4 ibook, she is on a gateway. Which one works better with the windows gateway? What is the difference between 3rd gen and 4th gen? The 4th gen is only $50 more than the 3rd gen and has 5 more gbs. Are there more accessories that come with the 3rd gen? Which is everyone's preference?

I recently bought a new 3g 20GB for the exact same price than the 4g 20GB (the shop was selling out the 3g's). The differences are that the 3g has no mechanical buttons(4g has mechanical click-buttons in the wheel), and, to me, looks way cooler because it has an all-white front (4g has that ugly grey click-wheel) and because, with the backlight on, the 4 buttons are illuminated in red (4g: no illuminated buttons).
The 4g is slightly thinner than the 3g, but not much.
And, very important, the 3g 20GB had more accessories included than the 4g (dock, cable remote, holster with beltclip, cost 39,- Euro each).
So, at the end, for the same price, I got more.

Both work fine with Windows. But, if you want to use your iPod on both platforms, make sure you initialize it on the Windows PC. Because the Mac can read a Windows formatted iPod, but Windows can't read a Mac formatted iPod.

The 3g 15GB doesn't come with those accessories, it has the same equipment than 4g 20GB.

You should go to a store, and try out clicking and navigating with both versions. To me 3G iPod without any click feedback is very hard to use. Sure, it's cool to just touch and click, but over time it gets tired because of so many unintended mis clicks. iPod mini and 4G has better interface as you get feedback of each click.

I've had a 3G for nine months now, but just ordered an iBook, so it seemed silly not to take advantage of the Cram & Jam deal (when I sell my 3G, I'll be making a 'profit').

The big drawing point to the 4G for me was the battery life. Quoted 12 hours opposed to quoted 8 hours. That's a big difference.

I saw a 4G in a store the other day, and I admit, the 3G looks *so* much nicer, no horrible grey click-wheel. I also like the fact that the 3G is 'not mechanical' (I'll blissfully ignore the 'hold' button).

As for the accessories - the only thing I ever used with my 3G is the dock. And that's just to make it pretty at the end of the day. (I don't jack it straight into my hi-fi, I use the CDs). I'll probably end-up buying a dock for it, but that's no biggie, really.

So I guess it depends what you want it for. Personally, the iPod means that I can carry my entire CD collection with me, now for 12 hours. K, so the 4G doesn't look as pretty, and although I like the fact that my iPod is pretty, the extra four hours counts more than the white touch-wheel.

Thak you all for your input. In the end I ended up getting 2 20gb 4g's. The cosmetics were not a huge factor for me, but I do like the idea of extended battery life. i will be using this thing while in the military and the 4 extra hours of battery life may make all the difference when a wall socket is hard to find. I also liked the idea of having the extra 5 gb's of room. I know 5gb's isn't much, bu hey, you never know. I also prefer the mechanical bttons. if I push something i like to feel it.